Astragalus lentiginosus var. yuccanus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. mokiacensis |
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yucca freckled milkvetch, yucca milkvetch |
mokiak milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants winter-annual or short-lived perennial, clump-forming, 15–60(–100) cm. | Plants perennial, 20–60 cm, herbage green or subglabrescent. |
Stems | erect and ascending. |
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Leaves | (5–)7–16 cm; leaflets 13–21(–25), blades broadly elliptic, oval, rhombic-obovate, or obovate, (4–)6–21 mm, apex retuse or emarginate. |
3–10(–13) cm; leaflets (7 or)9–17(–21), blades broadly obovate-obcordate, lanceolate, elliptic, or suborbiculate-obcordate, 5–13(–19) mm, apex emarginate or retuse to truncate, adaxial surface glabrous. |
Racemes | loosely (12–)15–32-flowered, lax and open in fruit; axis early elongating, (4.5–)6–14 cm in fruit. |
loosely 12–20-flowered; axis elongating, 3.5–18(–22) cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | (3–)5–10 cm. |
4–11(–14) cm. |
Flowers | 11–15.6 mm; calyx 6–7.5 mm, tube 4.4–5.7 mm, lobes (1.3–)1.5–2.4 mm; corolla white or ochroleucous, concolorous, sometimes fading pale bluish, petals poorly graduated, banner slightly longer than wings, wings and keel nearly equal length. |
(10–)14–18(–19) mm; calyx 5–8(–9.2) mm, tube (3.5–)4–6.5 mm, lobes 1–2(–2.7) mm; corolla pink- to red-purple, usually with pale or white wing tips. |
Legumes | stramineous, plumply ovoid-acuminate or subglobose, strongly inflated, 15–25(–32) × 10–18 mm, bilocular, papery-membranous, subtranslucent, usually glabrous, rarely minutely strigulose; beak 3–7 mm, unilocular. |
dehiscent on plant, usually ascending-erect to ascending, rarely spreading, green becoming stramineous, usually ± straight to incurved, rarely decurved, oblong-ellipsoid, not or scarcely inflated, slightly turgid, 14–28(–32) × 4.5–6.5 mm, ± bilocular, somewhat fleshy becoming leathery or stiffly papery, glabrous or minutely pubescent; beak 3–4 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | 17–26. |
(22–)25–36. |
2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. yuccanus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. mokiacensis |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–May. | Flowering Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Open sandy plains, sandy or rocky washes, gulches in foothills of desert mountains, with Larrea and in yucca-grasslands. | Limestone on outcrops and gravel, on basaltic or granitic gravel and/or outcrops, with Hymenoclea, bursage, Joshua tree, Larrea, and Ferocactus. |
Elevation | 500–1100 m. (1600–3600 ft.) | 700–1800 m. (2300–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; NV |
AZ; NV; UT |
Discussion | Variety yuccanus occurs in west-central Arizona, barely entering Nevada in the southern tip of Clark County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The placement of var. mokiacensis has challenged generations of botanists. R. C. Barneby (1945) regarded var. mokiacensis as part of the lentiginosus complex but later (Barneby 1964) recognized it as a species within sect. Preussiani. In Washington County in Utah, var. mokiacensis has been consistently confused with var. palans. S. L. Welsh (2007) extensively discussed problems revolving around interpretation and distinction of var. mokiacensis. J. A. Alexander (2005) considered the taxon to be best recognized at the species level, as A. mokiacensis, the persistent fruit being otherwise unknown in A. lentiginosus. Alexander also presented a key to similar taxa and to minor variants within A. mokiacensis. As recognized here, the variety is found in Washington County in southwestern Utah, northwestern Mohave County in Arizona, and eastern Clark County in Nevada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. ursinus | |
Name authority | M. E. Jones: Contr. W. Bot. 8: 3. (1898) | (A. Gray) M. E. Jones: Rev. N.-Amer. Astragalus, 126. (1923) |
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